


Zip and the Faerie Queen

by FerallyQuick



Category: Under Hollow Hills (ttrpg)
Genre: Circus, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fae & Fairies, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Language of Flowers, Short, a death realm story where the rules are actually followed for once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:09:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28838328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FerallyQuick/pseuds/FerallyQuick
Summary: A short scene based off a session of the tabletop RPG Under Hollow Hills, where you play as characters in a faerie carnival. The carnival has come to a snow covered town locked in permanent winter, and the troupe is supposed to be getting ready for the show, but Zip has other ideas...A part of the Under Hollow Hills setting is that a characters appearance and pronouns can change with their circumstances. Zip's appearance and pronouns both change!
Kudos: 2





	Zip and the Faerie Queen

The fairy's breath puffed out in the cold, a sparkling glitter of crystals floating through the air as she flitted through the snow, eyes transfixed on the glass tower shining before them. She made an interesting sight, wearing a tight vest and tighter pants, with a multitude of light airy scarves fluttering around them. Despite the snow falling around her, she didn't seem cold, and if you tilted your head and closed one eye, it almost looked like the summer sun was shining down through her short multicoloured hair. She could still hear the ringmaster somewhere behind her, cursing about wayward fairies who were too airheaded to listen to the plan and would be getting a right earful once they got their hands on her. 

She grinned and hurried forward, feet barely making an impression on the snow as she finally reached the base of the tower. She rapped lightly on the door and stood there humming to herself, and rocking back and forth on her heels. 

The door creaked open an inch and a tiny brownie looked out at her with a disgruntled expression on their face. "What do you want? It's freezing out there!"

"Hello my good gentle-brownie, please do not be alarmed. My name is Zip you see, I am a performer with the circus that has come to town. I have come to see what we can do to help lift the spirits of the town, although I must say, your magnificent tower looks like it would lift anyone's spirit. It is absolutely marvelous may I come inside?" Zip spilled out in a rush of words that seemed to leave the brownie slightly off kilter, like being assailed by a very gentle swarm of butterflies, a feeling which any of Zip's companions would, if they were there, assure the brownie was a very normal feeling after talking to the excitable pixie.

"Errrr, right. The circus. Don't see why we need you lot, bunch of strangers tramping all over the place to try and cheer us up, but Herself asked for it, said we needed it, although rightfully is our Lady who needs it not us, but errr yes I suppose you better come inside." The brownie reluctantly held open the door for Zip, slightly red-faced at realizing they had said that all out loud.

Zip stepped inside the tower and gasped in delight. Inside, it was as if the winter that raged outside wasn't there at all. The air was lit like a spring day, and flowers and vines grew all over, growing up and up until they reached a wooden ceiling with a trapdoor set in it, reachable by a delicate spiraling staircase. 

"This is absolutely beautiful. A true work of art. Whoever the gardener of this place is, they must be a true master of their craft." Zip said, casting a twinkling side eye at the brownie, now red faced for an entirely different reason.

"Ahh. Well. One does what one can" the brownie said gruffly, failing to hide a bit of a proud grin at the pixie's compliment. "Time was I had the entire town done up like this, ‘twas a real beauty it was".

"What happened?" Asked Zip, an uncharacteristic soft note entering her voice.

"Hmmm. Well. The Lord is the land, and the land is the Lord. And our Lady hasn't felt much like spring in a long long time."

"She's up there isn't she? The stone top of the tower?" Zip chewed her lip for a moment, her multicoloured floating hair sinking and turning brown as she looked at the brownie. "Can I go see her? I…. might be able to help"

The brownie looked at them, startled as they noticed how much older and sadder they seemed, before nodding. “‘Tis her that needs help more than any of us sorry lot, if you catch my drift.”

Zip climbed the stairs, still light and nimble on their feet, passing first honeysuckle and ivy, then aloe and forget-me-nots. Moving now less like a child dancing through a meadow, and more like a dancer pirouetting across a stage. They gently pushed open the trapdoor and stepped into the room beyond.

Plain stone walls. An unadorned wooden floor. A simple rocking chair facing a solitary window, looking west. And in the chair, dressed in plain spun black mourning, the Lady. 

She turned slightly at hearing the door open, and seemed surprised at seeing Zip step through. "Oh hello there little one. Did my chamberlain send you?" A slight furrow of the brow. "You're not one of mine are you?"

Zip bowed deeply and elegantly. "No ma'am, I am not. I am a humble performer of the circus you sent for. I am here to learn what ails you and if there is ought my company can do to lighten your heart".

The Lady looked down on the pixie, not unkindly. "I find it very unlikely that you'll be able to help, friend puck, but come, sit, and I will tell you my tale".

As Zip sank gracefully onto the ground, arms hugging their legs close, the Lady began.

"There was a time when all of our realm was in perpetual spring. Forever growing and bright and with an air full of promise. I ruled with my consort by my side, and She and I were happy. But forever is a long time, even for ones such as us, and the tale is an old one. There was… an insult from a neighbouring Lord. A quarrel. Some trivial matter that had no real bearing, but She… She was always headstrong and brave. Why they decided to duel with iron weapons I'll never know. But duel they did, and She who was the Spring of my heart and should have lived forever fell, and like Demeter deprived of Persephone, my world turned to ice and snow and sorrow.

I just wish that I could have said goodbye."

Zip stared up at the Lady, eyes sad and looking far older than their youthful face. "Oh my Lady, that is truly a sad tale. My heart aches for you." They closed their eyes before continuing. "There is a saying on the other side of the hill, that a hard day's work will beat magic anyday. I wouldn't know a hard day's work if it jumped up and smacked me in the face, so I don't know how right they are, but there may be something I can do to help ease your aching heart, for a brief time at least. But it doesn't always work, for magic is fickle for one of my stature."

"Speak plainly pixie, I have no time for your word play.f”

"Us pixie's flit throughout all the world's, there are no doors truly barred to us, no pathways we cannot traverse. With a bit of luck, we can take someone to their heart's desire."

"I do not wish to see some phantom image of my Love, to remind me of what I lost."

"Oh no, my Lady, please do not mistake me. I am no wisp. I could take you to the edge between the realms, where death meets life, to speak, truly speak with her".

At this the Lady rose from her chair, and she was tall, and proud, and magnificent in her grief. "You will do this for me?"

"A favour truly offered. I must warn you though. You will not be able to touch Her. You will not be able to bring Her back to this side. And there is only one way to go to Her, and if I judge you right, you are not yet ready to walk that final path".

The Lady nodded gravely. "The rules are clear. Please friend puck, lead me along your hidden ways".

Zip stood up, face determined. "Very well my Lady."

A sudden swirl of autumn leaves rose up around Zip as the air began glittering around them and they began to chant.

"Up and down, up and down,  
I will lead them up and down  
I am fear'd in field and town,  
But hark the path!  
Follow me, then,  
To plainer ground."

A path opened up in front of Zip, glittering golden, autumn leaves on the ground and a great forest all around as they took the Lady by the hand and rushed forward down the path.

Zip's feet led the two of them unwavering down the path, until they reached a meadow, with a wrought iron fence crossing the middle. On the other side of the fence, there She stood. Beautiful, with a sense of power washed away and eroded. 

As the Lady gasped, Zip laid a hand on her arm. "Remember. You may look, you may speak. But you may not touch". With this final warning, Zip withdrew to a corner of the meadow, and watched as the Lady and her love met in the middle, each on one side of that terrible iron fence.

What was said between the two of them is not for us to know, for some secrets, like what a lover would say to a loved one, given one last chance, are not ours to know, but a treasure to be closely guarded. After a time though, they smiled at each other, put one hand up, not touching, but as close as they could be, and separated.

"My dear pixie. You have done me a great service this day. But we must away and return. My people need me as their Lady, not as a mourning widow."

Zip stood and bowed, took the Ladies hand gently in their own, took a deep breath, and began chanting once more.

"If we shadows have offended,  
Think but this, and all is mended,  
That you have but slumber'd here  
While these visions did appear."

And as they chanted, the tunnel appeared once more, and they flew down it, until they were once again in the plain stone room.

The Lady stood there, and gently bent down and kissed Zip on the forehead. "Thank you my friend. I am sure your performance will be most spectacular.” And the Lady was now wearing a dress, that while still black, glittered with stars, and at the very edge, had the faintest hint of a sunrise's pink glow. 

Zip grinned as colours seemed to seep into their hair from nowhere, and as an unseen breeze ruffled her hair into never ending motion, Zip opened the hatch door and told the Lady, "my dear, it will be a night to remember". And then with a giggle she leaped and floated down, and trotted out the door of the tower, to return to her grumpy ringmaster, and danced over the snow as she felt the first breeze of spring come whispering through the town.


End file.
